


Shared Custody

by DeyaAmaya



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, just a silly excuse to write fluff tbh, just a whole lot of fluff, kinda enemy to friends to lovers, sharing custody of a cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 17:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,383
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18627457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeyaAmaya/pseuds/DeyaAmaya
Summary: In which Andrew and Neil met over a stray and kept bickering about who gets to keep it. Nicky takes the liberty to name him Princess Pawsome. Neil thinks they could share custody. Andrew has a better idea.





	Shared Custody

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paleromantic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paleromantic/gifts).



> This is the result of a writer's block and first kiss/cats prompt from Aaron (Paleromantic). There's no mention of Andrew or Neil's past abuse, just vague hand-waving. This is really nothing but fluff. Bucketload of thanks to Ariana who agreed to Beta this sillyness in such short notice.

‘You're not keeping Princess.'   
  
'What? You want him now? Funny how last week you-'   
  
Andrew tried his best to stop paying attention to Neil, instead focusing onto the vigorous _chomp chomp_ of Nicky demolishing a bowl of popcorn but really, who was he kidding? If it wasn’t Neil's voice or the words he spoke, it was the iceberg blue of his eyes, the fall leaves of his hair, or the rapidly rising color beneath the freckles kissing across his face.   
  
That...wasn’t a good sign.    
  
Just as Andrew recognised that yes, Neil was more pissed than usual, the redhead turned on his heels and marched out of Nicky's flat. Andrew pretended  to not notice the slammed door.   
  
Nicky, being Nicky, couldn’t tolerate the silence for two seconds.   
  
'So... I guess I'm babysitting Princess for another week?'   
  


* * *

  
  
It all started a while ago, at a local food truck, no less. Andrew was waiting in line for his chocolate dipped deep fried ice cream when something soft brushed his ankles. Andrew kept himself still and peered down to find a black blob of shiny fur yowling at him. The next second a guy had come running.   
  
'You little shit! Where's my crepe!'   
  
Andrew kept very still, because 1) if he moved his legs there was a good chance he would squish the (very tiny) kitten and 2) the guy was attractive, so attractive that want as strong as an iron fist punched him square in his stomach. Oh, _fuck_.   
  
'Can you hand me my cat?' the blue eyed man asked. No, demanded.   
  
'I don’t think it likes you very much,' Andrew mused. Sure enough, the little fluff was grumbling and trying to climb up Andrew's pant leg.   
  
'I was feeding him and he took off with a whole crepe!' the look on that face. Andrew would have laughed if that was something he did. Instead he reached down and hoisted the cat on his shoulder.   
  
'I think I'll keep him,' Andrew told him. 'I already have a cat, so I have experience.'   
  
The man gaped in outrage. 'You— you—Alright! What's your cat's name then?'   
  
Andrew really didn’t like his cat's name.

But he also didn’t like to lie, so.   
  
'Sir Fat Cat McCatterson,' he said with a straight face.   
  
Instead of laughing, the man was now squinting at him.   
  
'You're Nicky's cousin? Andrew? He never shuts up about the cat.'   
  
'You know Nicky?'   
  
'I work for him.'   
  
Andrew did some quick math in his head. Boyd was brunette, Knox was blond, this must be-   
  
'Neil Josten, and your cat is called King Fluffkins.'   
  
'Yeah, yeah,' the guy– _Neil_ – laughed a little. 'Serves me right for letting Nicky name her.'   
  
The cat chose that moment to yowl. Andrew looked at it, and then the stupidly gorgeous man and made a rash decision.    
  
'Nicky has some cat food stored in the restaurant if I remember right, let's settle this while I'm feeding this idiot.'   
  


* * *

  
  
And that is exactly how Andrew fell into a deep deep ravine. Him and Neil kept bickering about who would take the cat (named Princess Pawsome by Nicky despite having been later discovered to be male) but neither could come to any resolution. Both their houses were cat proof, both their  apartment owners had no problem with pets, they both knew the sane vet and so on. In the end they'd left the cat with Nicky. Temporarily. But every other day Andrew and Neil met up at Nicky's and bickered over Princess. They bickered over coffee, tea, noodles and more recently, cigarettes.   

 

Andrew had no idea why he didn't just give up the mangy little furball. 

 

(That's a lie. He knew. He knew he was only fighting so that he could keep finding that stupid bit of blue fire in Neil's eyes when he was angry which told him he was fucked.)    

 

Today was no exception. Neil had argued about how he was the better choice for keeping Princess since he worked from home for four days a week and it had ended in  him storming away. That was new.

 

‘Go after him, Andrew,’ Kevin whined. ‘He makes the best kebab rolls in the whole fucking city.’

 

‘Yeah Andrew, go get your boyfriend. I don't wanna lose another perfectly good employee cause you, uh-’ Nicky trailed off as Andrew threw him a murderous glare. 

 

(He did NOT like being reminded of what had happened with Roland.)  

 

But Neil… He was nothing like Roland. With every cigarette they shared, his place in Andrew's life became more solid, and every lie which turned to smoke was replaced by a truth and Andrew didn’t want to remember what his life was like before Neil stumbled into his life, three months ago.  

 

Princess let out a grumbly meow and Nicky went back to petting her obediently. That was another problem. Nicky had been graciously looking after the cat, but it was unfair to keep burdening him.

 

‘Fine, I'll talk to the idiot.’

 

* * *

 

 

Saying that was easier than actually talking to the idiot, because it was near impossible to find him when he didn’t want to be found. After running out of all plausible hiding places, Andrew gave up and just threw pebbles at Neil's bedroom window above Nicky's shop.  

 

The window clattered open and then closed after a yelled ‘NO’.

 

Andrew tried again. The window stayed closed. The neighbors were starting to grumble.

 

‘Dammit.’

 

Andrew climbed the flimsy looking pipe up the the window ledge, heart in his throat the whole time. Good thing the window opened inwards.

 

Neil was awake, waiting for him, or so it seemed. Half in the dark, half in moonlight he looked like a wisp of smoke, a figment of Andrew's dreams. Andrew was distinctly aware of the thudding heartbeat in his ears, the sudden sandy dryness in his mouth. 

 

‘Well?’ Neil prompted. ‘Go ahead. Try to kiss me like last week and then freak out and run away like a-’

 

Andrew's hand over his mouth stopped the sharp words, but did nothing to dim the fight in those eyes. Between the eyes and the wet heat against his palms, Andrew found his words with difficulty. 

 

‘I–you don’t swing and it was wrong of me to—hey!’

 

Neil looked entirely too smug about biting Andrew's hand. 

 

‘I don't swing, yes. But I frankly don't care right now–’ he grabbed Andrew's jacket in his fists, ‘–kiss me or else, Andrew.’

 

The audacity.

 

Well, Andrew had no choice left, did he.

 

At the first touch of lips, Neil shook with a shiver, a gasp breathed right into Andrew's mouth. Sweet, despite never adding sugar to his coffee. Andrew has been dreaming of this almost from the moment he'd met the blue eyed menace.  

 

Andrew scraped his teeth through Neil's bottom lip and the redhead groaned, leaning away to breathe.    

 

‘Th-that was- you, uh, you’re a great kisser. But you’re still not getting Princess.’

 

Andrew couldn’t help it. He really couldn’t. His head dropped onto Neil's shoulder and the peal of laughter spilled out of his throat. Neil grumbled about not being taken seriously, moving his hands upwards and into Andrew's hair.

 

‘Fine, we can share custody of him? Like, I can take him four days if the week and you can take him three days? We share vet costs and-’

 

Kissing was a good way  to shut him up, so that's what Andrew did. Neil didn’t seem too opposed to the idea either.  

 

* * *

 

By the time Andrew gathered enough courage to broach the topic, it was daybreak and time for Neil's daily run. Andrew placed his mouth against the fragile vertebrae at the back of Neil's neck and spoke the words that were burning a hole in his chest.

 

‘Move in with me.’ 

 

Neil's squirming stopped instantly. After a second he turned in Andrew's embrace and facing him,  dragged the tip of his nose along Andrew's own. 

 

‘And what do I get if I do move in with you?’ he asked playfully, but with an undercurrent of insecurity that Andrew caught immediately.      

 

‘Who says I'm doing that for you?’ he shot. ‘It's for Princess. It'll be better than ‘shared custody’. We don’t have to jostle her around or-’

 

‘Shut up, Andrew.’ Neil said, and then kissed him, hard. 

 

And then.

 

‘Yes.’

 

\------ Fin-------   

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me on tumblr! I'm andreil-minyasten.


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